MY NORMBLOG PROFILE

CHAITEALATTE2

November 05, 2006

VCR nostalgia (JLH)

I don’t usually buy into “slippery slope” paranoia [slippery slope from gay marriage to the end of the family, from selling wine in grocery stores to rampant alcoholism, from health insurance reform to socialized medicine…], but I’ve been sliding out of control into the consumer electronics market since I bought my Macbook Pro this summer.

I just spent so much money at Best Buy today that CitiBank was ringing me to question credit card fraud as I entered my apartment with my purchases- a 26” Samsung flat panel TV and Bose 321 surround sound/DVD system. I now have widescreen and stereo under control of a universal remote.
It’s not a shopping addiction since I literally felt sick while trying to decide which system to buy while being blasted by hip-hop and lectured about resolution and rebate plans by salesmen who could not comprehend my sense of woe - I hate change. Nor is it any need to compete with my Phat friends.

I had been living with a boom box, analog television (coaxial cable input only) with mono-sound, and a VCR. My sister had bought me a DVD player, but it was a pain to hook up (required a RF converter), did not give me the same control over movie viewing as the VCR (fast forward is not the same), and didn’t allow recording. I watched only 3 discs in 2 years.

I wanted to play music from my new computer through a stereo so I could expand my listening choices beyond commercial CDs, I figured I would upgrade the TV so it could play through the same system. The TV picture is mediocre with analog input (including VCR), so I feel like I’m headed for digital cable and TIVO.